"The way I see this, every member of Congress has a responsibility to put aside partisan political differences in favor of finding common-sense solutions," Nelson said.

Still, it's a tough mission: Craft a budget blueprint by Dec. 13 that the rank-and-file of both major parties can stomach, avoiding another government shutdown or debt-ceiling standoff.

Go, Bill, go.

The Oct. 17 statement from Nelson's office announcing his appointment describes Florida's senior senator as a "political moderate who's long advocated for more civility in public service."

Who knew that would make him such a maverick?

But the tea party and lefties have shown what they can deliver.

Time to send in an astronaut.

Rescue mission

The House and Senate budget proposals (yes, both chambers have passed one) are about $90 billion apart, equal to 2.5 percent of Uncle Sam's total outlays this year.

But in concrete terms, $90 billion is big.

It is roughly nine times the cost of the first Ford-class aircraft carrier expected soon, or six times the cost of NASA's Orion space capsule, to be built at Kennedy Space Center.

It is about three times the estimated cost of welfare fraud in the Social Security Disability program. It is just shy of the annual cost to the Treasury of all offshore tax havens.

Bridging the gap requires real negotiation, not what passed for it before the shutdown.

Besides Nelson, I'm heartened by most of the other 26 at the table. They are largely "rank-and-file" Republicans and Democrats on budget and finance committees and known for trying, at least, to put service first, says the vote-monitoring and analysis site GovTrack.us.

The fiscal conservatives include Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Penn., who co-authored a bipartisan gun-control bill, and Ryan, famous for his austerity plans but who criticized recent brinkmanship over Obamacare. The seven House delegates include two moderate Republicans and a moderate Democrat from Ryan's Budget Committee. Sens. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Tim Kaine, D-Va., will join them.

Ironically, it's those practical people who most seem to need a partisan crisis caused by others to do any planning these days. It provides political cover to negotiate in ways the "base" won't otherwise tolerate.

Take Nelson, for example, whose record portrays him as a "Centrist Democrat," according Gov.Track. He has defended Social Security and Medicare for seniors, but knows the programs need long-term cost-savings and modernization to survive. Under normal conditions, no Democrat touches entitlements.

Today, a liberal flame thrower like Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Orlando, rates among the Democratic "rank-and-file," GovTrack says. In social media and elsewhere, the "Congressman with Guts" flames members of Congress who consider so much as tweaking the Social Security eligibility age. But he also opposed the shutdown.

On the right, Ryan himself represents the "rank-and-file," which might make it easier to move his caucus.

But I don't expect him to budge Space Coast Congressman Bill Posey of Rockledge - a "far-right leader," according to GovTrack - or Sen. Marco Rubio of West Miami, who's trying to look like one.

Time to rise

A year ago, we shared one criticism of Nelson when FLORIDA TODAY endorsed him for re-election. We said he had fallen short of his potential to lead a national balanced-budget deal "as one of the Senate's few remaining fiscal centrists and deal makers."

A typical knock against Nelson, from the Tea Party Patriots website, is that he was around when Democrats passed a stimulus bill and deficit spending grew. It criticized him for not supporting harder, across-the-board cuts called for by a Republican "Cut, Cap and Balance" bill that failed.

Still, Nelson has long supported a balanced-budget amendment and his bills followed pay-as-you-go budget rules. He did so while defending NASA and Florida seniors.

Don't let us down, Bill.

"The real question here is, are you a problem solver or are you an ideologue?" political expert Norm Ornstein told FLORIDA TODAY before our endorsement. " I would without hesitation put Nelson in the problem-solver category."